Monday 5 November 2007

A quiz for people who know everything

QUESTIONS

  1. There's one sport in which neither the spectators nor the participants know the score or the leader until the contest ends. What is it?
  2. What famous North American landmark is constantly moving backward?
  3. Of all vegetables, only two can live to produce on their own for several growing seasons. All other vegetables must be replanted every year. What are the only two perennial vegetables?
  4. Name the only sport in America in which the ball is always in possession of the team on defense, and the offensive team can score without touching the ball.
  5. What fruit has its seeds on the outside?
  6. In many liquor stores, you can buy pear brandy, with a real pear inside the bottle. The pear is whole and ripe, and the bottle is genuine; it hasn't been cut in any way. How did the pear get inside the bottle?
  7. Only three words in Standard English begin with the letters "dw". They are all common. Name two of them.
  8. There are fourteen punctuation marks in English grammar. Can you name half of them?
  9. Where are the lakes that are referred to in the "Los Angeles Lakers"?
  10. There are eight ways a baseball player can legally reach first base without getting a hit. Name them.
  11. It's the only vegetable or fruit that is never sold frozen, canned, processed, cooked, or in any other form but fresh. What is it?
  12. Name ten or more things that you can wear on your feet that begin with the letter "s".

ANSWERS

  1. Boxing.
  2. Niagara Falls. The rim is worn down about 2 and a half feet each year because of the millions of gallons of water that rush over it every minute.
  3. Asparagus and rhubarb.
  4. Baseball (in other countries, the answer could also be cricket).
  5. Strawberry.
  6. The pear grew inside the bottle. The bottles are placed over pear buds when they are small, and are wired in place on the tree. The bottle is left in place for the whole growing season. When the pears are ripe, they are snipped off at the stems.
  7. "Dwarf", "dwell", and "dwindle".
  8. Period, comma, colon, semicolon, dash, hyphen, apostrophe, question mark, exclamation point, quotation marks, brackets parenthesis, braces, and ellipses.
  9. In Minnesota. The team was originally known as the Minneapolis Lakers and kept the name when they moved west.
  10. 1. balk (although a player cannot automatically advance to first on a balk, a balked pitch is automatically a ball, and a runner could walk to first base if the balk is the fourth "ball"); 2. walk; 3. hit-by-pitch; 4. defensive interference; 5. fielders choice; 6. dropped third strike; 7. being designated as a pinch runner; and 8. error.
  11. Lettuce.
  12. Shoes, socks, sandals, sneakers, slippers, skis, skates, snowshoes, stockings, stilettos, and stilts!

http://www.niehs.nih.gov/kids/questionstx.htm

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